As personal computers become more popular electronic correspondences also are increasing in use and popularity. Electronic mail (or email), text messages and instant messages are common modes of communication for both personal and professional use. Conventionally, correspondences as sensitive as those including medical information, payment history, account information, legal services, and even government correspondences are sent via email. It is just comparatively very convenient to send a correspondence electronically rather than through a hand-delivery system or courier. The delivery time literally shrinks from days to seconds. Thus, it is increasingly important to ensure that each correspondence sent electronically is properly addressed.
Especially with respect to electronic mail, it has become popular for user interface software to provide a user with assistance in drafting the correspondence. For example, some email software systems will provide users with the option of automatically completing in the remainder of an addressee's email address. The software saves all prior addressee information and regenerates a list of possible matches based on the first few characters of the addressee's information. So for a recipient named John Doe with an email address of johndoe@mailbox.com, the software may recognize the address based on the user entering “john” in the addressee line. The software will then generate a pop-up box which will list either “John Doe” or johndoe@mailbox.com as one of the possible selections or matches.
While this automatic filler is of convenience it can cause errors. For example, if a user has emailed several different users with the first name of John, a user could inadvertently select and send a correspondence to the wrong John, e.g., John Dakota, John Denver or John Downing. Also, many programs link the addressee filler program with the user's contact list. When a user types the first or last name of the addressee an email address is generated based on contact information stored by the program. This has utility where a person's email address does not necessarily directly match the spelling of their first and last names. For example, John Doe II might have an email address of jdoe@mailbox.com. If “John” is typed into the address line and John Doe II was added to the user's contact list, the email address of jdoe@mailbox.com will be generated as an optional addressee. If “John” is typed into the address line without John Doe II being added to the user's contact list, however, the email address of jdoe@mailbox.com will not be generated. Other email addresses like, e.g., johndoes@mailbox.com can however be listed as a potential selection and inadvertently added to the addressee line.
Existing email software programs have some checks to mitigate inadvertent sending. For example, some programs will check addressee information for format. So that if the address is written without an acceptable domain reference, e.g., @ something @com or @somewhere/org, the user will be prompted with an error message to indicate that the address is non-existent. Still, this correction software cannot manage emails that are appropriately formatted but simply addressed to the wrong addressee. Also, while many communication software programs include spell check, the data scanner for spell check typically foregoes checking the address lines since most email addresses would not pass ordinary spelling or grammatical standards.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a software program that verifies addressees in electronic correspondences to ensure that the intended recipients are listed before the correspondence is sent.